Chennai made it to the finals due to the largesse of Deccan. They helped CSK in every possible way to do that.
The shifting of venue and the sky high prices had ensured that there was not much of turn out and though all of us kept criticising IPL, the tourney coming closer to a finish is impacting us.
Dhoni won the toss – had the guts to have a full spin attack – chose to include the young Anirudha Srikkanth in this crucial match. Hayden and Murali Vijay walked in and Hayden was desperate in getting out, it appeared. Not only was the fluency missing but he was barely able to connect. Gilly opened with Symonds and Harris. RP Singh dropped a sitter at cover and next over Bodipati Sumanth showed no reaction at gully. Despite these endowments, Hayden returned back. Murali & Raina also perished and at 4.5, CSK were looking down the barrel at 29-3. Dhoni and Badri scratched around and even at the completion of 15 overs, 100 had not been made. The final flourish with Anirudha hitting two lusty sixers ensured a not so competitive score of 142.
Considering Deccan’s five consecutive wins, this was measly one thought. That was not to be. Boulinger and by now regular opening bowler Ashwin crippled them. The 50 came in 11.3 by far the slowest and at 54 they had lost 5. Gilchrist and Gibbs appeared pale shadow of themselves and though big shots were attempted, they failed to connect even. Suman and Rohit perished exited sooner than they entered and the lack of conviction from the so called champion side was apparent. Symonds made an ungainly swipe only to be caught easily in the deep and that almost sealed Deccan’s fate.
It was a meek surrender getting all out for 104 in 19.4 and allowing a run rate of 7 to climb uphill was certainly not a noteworthy performance. Streaky Chennai is into finals now.
Regards – Sampathkumar S
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